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SEO and Google Rankings: Entrepreneurs must answer customer's small business questions

We all want our websites to be found, so ask yourself—what questions are people asking to find you? And what kind of result should they expect when they do find you?

By Paul ChatoSpecial to The Star

Fri., May 24, 2013

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity” - Ellen Parr

What a great quote. We are all curious. When you search for something on the Internet you are curious about that thing; how long to cook that roast, who was the lead actor in The Blob? (Steve McQueen, btw.) What idiot did Justin Bieber lend his Ferrari to now?

We all want our websites to be found, so ask yourself—what questions are people asking to find you? And what kind of result should they expect when they do find you?

When you search for how to cook a Beef Wellington you get an ANSWER. What answers do people find on your website, or are they getting just your blah, blah, blah? The difference between answering questions and spouting your messaging can be subtle, but it’s also powerful, and based on my experience it’s something many small business owners fail to put much thought into.

When a business invests in SEO, or search engine optimization, they are mostly concerned about Google rankings, getting found on that coveted first page. But that seems to be where their concern ends. They think, “as long my potential customers users click on that link, I’m fine.”

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But that’s just the first step. Yes, a customer can’t see your website if they don’t click the link, but if they do get to your business’ online home and find their questions unanswered, they’ll move on and probably never think about you again.

If your business has a process, maybe they want to know what it is—not how many years your president has been, well, president. It doesn't matter what you do, they know that already. That's why they're at your bloody site. (SIDE NOTE: Hopefully your home page confirms that they've come to the right place. That's an issue of confirmation, not question answering.) Customers want to know
how
you do what you do. Are you providing this information?

Pretend you're a customer. Ask Google a question that pertains to your business. Let's say you have a mule clipping service. “How can I get my mules groomed?” Hopefully your site comes up in the results.

Click the link. What did you get, marketing nonsense, or an answer to your question? An answer might be a video on how you treat the animals: how you wash them first, then lovingly groom them before giving a pomade brushing. A flowchart of the process achieves the same result. The visual element is key here though—I'm a big advocate of Show, don't Tell.

The takeaway from this is simple. Make sure your website answers customer questions, don’t just use it to push out useless information.

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